I'm so excited! As most of you already know, I have started the planning phase of my little nest at Majeau Lake in Lac St. Anne county.

That's my new view and for those who don't know Majeau Lake, it's a very large and shallow bodied lake that is fed by Lac St. Anne and is about a 15 minute drive from Alberta Beach. It is home to so many different species of wildlife and the lake itself has wildlife preserve designation and is protected by the provincial government. That means no power boats ... yay! It is very peaceful there and on beautiful sun-soaked days like today I imagine how amazing it will be to walk out on the pier with my tea ..er... lets get real - wine, and just sit and watch and hear the birds on the lake. I am so very excited.

The lot is just under one acre and is astoundingly unique - that is if bogs, frogs and wild blueberries astound you. It is three different ecosystems on one plot, boreal forest, bog, and wetland, it was named Spirit Moose by my good friend Pauline while I struggled with the knowledge that an adolescent male moose was found dead near the entry while I was deciding if I wanted to buy it. I tend not to worry about "bad signs" but this felt very troubling because what I planned to enjoy here was now lying dead in my soon to be driveway... but thankfully I also think that things happen for a reason and I could not for the life of me find him, no matter how hard I tried during my 2 visits pre purchase. I actually sent the agent an email telling her the county must have come out and taken him away because there was no way in hell that he was anywhere on the property... I had searched. Hard! She was thrilled and told me what a pain it usually was to deal with them and hoped this was a sign of a shift in their response to emergencies. I'm certain she was just as disappointed as I was when the next viewer texted her 2 minutes after exiting his vehicle with the message "there is a totally dead moose here, does it come with the property?" In the end, it did come with the property and I couldn't be more fine with it. I have left him where he lays and the "stink eaters" are doing their job of removing him bit by bit. The last time I was there his head was gone and although I was sort of hoping that of all his parts, the head would be there forever, I'm also sure that a coyote made off with a "pay dirt" kind of reward for foraging that day. I hope he or she ate well and there are so many moose beds in the bog area that I know this will not be the last moose at Spirit Moose, in spite of the potentially moose daunting name.

The house will be built on the edge of the forest on stilts just in case the water table fluctuates and will be completely off-grid. Solar panels, a wood stove, propane heater, and composting toilet will provide the necesities and water for showers and washing will be filtered rainwater. The house will be approximately 400 sf (including the loft) with a small utility room underneath it. I plan also to have a tiny guest house down the road with an outdoor shower and it's own wood stove but guests will sofa surf or tent it - (if they like) in the meantime.

The house will be built by the architect that is helping me to design it. He lives in Calgary and it will be shipped here prefabricated. Piece by piece we will assemble it on site beginning in September and although we haven't completely nailed down the design, we have a similar vision of it and I trust his taste and sensibilites emphatically. He is very talented and on a post in the near future, I will share his past works... for now these are some photos we have been sharing back and forth for inspiration:

And this is the initial sketch he came up with:

Simple but I am in love with it! That's a boardwalk to the lake, past the garden with the tilting solar panels (that exist only in my head right now) and I can see myself walking it every morning, tea in hand. He is elaborating on it now and once the plans are more complete I will post them. Heck, I will probably post even the most rough drawings as I have already done! Stick with me, it's a dream that is slowly coming true and I hope that my enthusiasm makes up for my grammar and punctuation.